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Tue 05 Mar 2019, 8:02 AM

MEDIA WATCH: The press have been poring over the Premier League title race

With just nine games left in the Premier League title race, an FA Cup quarter-final to look forward to and continued involvement in the Champions League, how will Manchester City cope between now and the end of the season?

That seems to be the topic on everyone’s mind right now and the press have been having their say.

Marcus Christenson, writing in the Guardian, has assessed City and Liverpool’s run-ins – and he says the Merseysiders may hold a slight advantage.

“Using a moderately scientific approach it shows, among many things, that the average table position of the teams Liverpool have still to play is 13.33 while City are up against teams with an average position of 11.89," he writes. "This may not sound like a huge difference but add to that facts such as Liverpool having more home games than City (55.5% to 44.4% or, in simpler terms, one more) and that Liverpool picked up 25 points against the opponents they have left to play this season when they first met during this campaign compared with 21 for City, and a pattern emerges. Five of Liverpool’s remaining nine games are against the worst five teams in the league according to the current table: Huddersfield, Fulham, Cardiff, Southampton and Burnley.

“It does appear that Liverpool have the easier run-in. Which may be good news for Jürgen Klopp and his team but there are other factors and the first of them is form: since the turn of the year City have picked up an impressive 2.67 points per game while Liverpool are currently on 1.78.

“Then, obviously, there will be injuries, refereeing decisions, the impact of progress in the Champions League and the question of which of the two sides enjoys the greater luck.”

With the City players given two days off this week to relax and recuperate after a bust period of fixtures, the Manchester Evening News’ Simon Bajkowski says it could be just the tonic ahead of the title run-in.

“City remain too busy to go away for a warm-weather break this season; they have previously gone away for a short period in each of Guardoila's first two seasons at the club, while Liverpool have enjoyed two trips in 2019 following their exits from the domestic cups," he writes.

“But time away on their own may be exactly what is needed to switch off from the intense nature of daily life with the coaching staff and the crucible of the title race.”